Production of plasma activated water and its application in improving the storage period of strawberries

Non-thermal plasma has been widely considered as an effective method for food decontamination. Recently, numerous studies have reported that plasma-activated water (PAW) also possesses outstanding antibacterial ability. In this study, PAW was produced and its physicochemical properties were evaluated at three activation durations of 20 (PAW-20), 40 (PAW-40), and 60 (PAW-60) min. Results indicated that pH decreased while electrical conductivity and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) increased with increasing the activation duration. In addition the potential of PAW for inactivating Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) inoculated on strawberries was investigated. The amount of S. aureus bacteria on the surface of strawberries treated for 20 min with PAW-60 showed 0.90 and 1.2 log reduction on days 0 and 4 of storage, respectively. While the corresponding values for the control treatment were equal to 0.27 and 0.03 log reduction, respectively. Results demonstrated that weight loss decreased with increasing PAW activation and treatment durations.

Production of plasma activated water and its application in improving the storage period of strawberries Keywords:

Cold plasma jet , Microbial load , Oxidation reduction potential , Physicochemical properties